Mcdonald's Rewrites The Score To Avoid Beanie Baby Blues

McDonald's Corp. will implement giant-size changes in this year's Teenie Beanie Baby Happy Meal promotion, set to launch midway through the second quarter, sources say.

The goal? To try and avoid the embarrassing free-for-all created last spring when customers quickly snapped up the 100 million or so small stuffed collector's items--in some cases, reportedly throwing away the food just for the prize.

The company was forced to end the promotion early last spring after running out of its supply of the hot toy.

While wildly successful in the realm of promotions, the company scrambled to ease complaints from customers who either couldn't find them or had to travel many miles to find a restaurant still stocked with them.

The company has ordered double the number of Beanie Babies as a result, and will ask its operators to vote on one consistent program to give away the Beanie Babies, made by Ty Inc. in suburban Oak Brook.

Sources say that McDonald's marketing executives are working on a plan that may include limits on how many Happy Meals a person can buy at one time.

Last time around, some customers bought Happy Meals by the dozen in order to get the toys, which are traded and collected by kids and adults.